Mike999

Nice build of that little monster! Vision Models does an RF-8 Aerosan with TWO kits in the box. Maybe helpful to people like me, who always goof up their first build of anything. It also includes two crew members done by MiniArt. Here's Terry Ashley's review at PMMS: Vision Models VM35003 RF-8-Gaz-98 Aerosled (perthmilitarymodelling.com)

And if the Corvair's not big enough...how about a '62 Chevy Suburban "Stageway" with EIGHT doors? Formerly a tour bus at Yosemite National Park. https://barnfinds.com/former-yosemite-tour-bus-1962-chevrolet/?fbclid=IwAR1xmjZSn0-LzdRr4LnIieTRuDdPINm8P1DRWd3rjObvPpvpNOYUyF3tHmM

A good deal on eBay! I almost bought one of these Bronco 1/35 scale "Civilian Suitcase & Umbrella Sets" from an overseas seller. The set is discontinued and very hard to find in the U.S. I have one but always wanted another. You just can't have too many 1/35 scale suitcases. Or umbrellas. The open umbrella has a photo-etched interior frame, just like it shows on the boxtop. Searching on eBay last night, I found a U.S. vendor selling 5...FIVE!...of these sets in a lot. "Buy It Now" price of $24.99, or about 5 bucks per set. Such a deal! The vendor wasn't a "model person." I checked their other items for sale, it was a few random model kits but lots of unrelated junk. One of those open umbrellas may be used immediately, as a sun-shade for a tank crew in the desert.

Here's an oddball version of the 1/35 scale Ural 4320 kit, that you may find at a swap meet or on eBay. It was released many years ago by "Russian Project," and seems to be the only kit that company ever did. It's the Omega-K/ICM kit, with vacu-form parts to convert it into an ATs-5.5 fuel truck. It also has white metal and photo-etched parts. I've had one of these in the stash for many years. If I ever build it, I may try adapting it to the new Zvezda or Trumpeter kit. The idea of working with that much vacu-form plastic is sort of scary.

I had to go to Wal-Mart today anyway. No plastic models at all, and only a few diecasts. I think only 1 diecast on the shelf was in 1/24 scale. Lots of empty space on the shelves, so maybe they're about to restock. The last time somebody spotted model kits in a Wal-Mart was around Christmas, IIRC. But this store didn't get any kits then, either.

Great job on this beast! Especially the subtle weathering and details like the water bottle in the door pocket. Civilianized Russian vehicles were a pretty common site when I worked in Egypt. I often saw an old GAZ-69 "jeep" in Alexandria, painted bright red with the grille and other parts chromed. Usual Boring Trivia: Trumpeter also makes a URAL 4320 kit, not the same as the Zvezda. The Trumpeter kit is an earlier version with smooth bed sides and a shorter hood, because it was powered by the KamAZ Diesel engine. The Zvezda kit is a later version with corrugated bed sides and a longer nose, to fit its new YamAZ engine. Both the older and newer Urals have been seen in Syria and other recent battlefields. You may find cheaper Ural 4320 kits in boxes from Omega-K and ICM. Ignore them. The Omega-K kit dates from the mid-1990s and the ICM is a rebox of it. Those are well-detailed but crude kits, with fiendish multi-part bodies that don't go together very well.

https://barnfinds.com/limo-conversion-1966-corvair/?fbclid=IwAR2KQydgOom9oQ1RaQLw8LgLPy3pbgmkk7PvUjy9gR1RVpiW8uUshz-u-xs

That is one awesome Ford. And I'm still waiting for somebody to do 1/25 scale Mason jars and their boxes. With photo-etched jar lids! I have a couple of locally written history books about moonshiners. "Local" is the northwestern tip of Upstate SC, which was prime moonshine country back in the day. From here, "runners" could get across 3 state lines pretty quickly: GA, NC and TN. Those books say tanks were very rare, and some of the old moonshiners interviewed said they had never seen one. If a car with a tank got seized by the Revenuers, that was instant evidence of guilt and a sure trip to Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. The runners just filled up Mason jars and put them back in their boxes. The '40 Ford sedan could hold a LOT of those boxes with the back seat removed. The runners installed heavy-duty rear springs to handle the extra weight, but they had to be discreet about that, too. A '40 Ford with its butt in the air was another instant tip-off to the Revenuers.

It's way past time for a reissue of the 1/35 scale Monogram M29C Weasel. Not a single company has done a new plastic kit of that one, not even the foreign kitmakers who do all sorts of obscure vehicles. The French company ADV/Azimut did it in resin, along with the original M29 which didn't have the flotation chambers or rudders. The Monogram kit is simplified, with the wheels and suspension molded in 1 piece. But we can fix that. The Weasel, built by Studebaker, was used all over the place in WWII. The French used them extensively in their Vietnam war. They were nicknamed "Crabs" and carried every type of weapon from .30 caliber machine guns to big recoilless rifles. Here are some M29's operated by the French Foreign Legion in Indochina.

OK, let me tell you more than you possibly ever wanted to know about that...🙃 If you're going for accuracy...in 1967 Israel didn't have the M113 yet. Even more fun for modelers, in the Six Day War it was still using WWII-era half-tracks as personnel carriers. The old Tamiya M3A2 half-track will work. Some sources say the IDF captured a few M113's from Jordan in '67. But the IDF didn't get its first "official" M113A1's until 1970. The difference between the M113 and M113A1 is the engine: gasoline in the original M113 and Diesel in the A1, from 1964 on. For us model builders, they're externally the same. The big external change came in 1979 with the M113A2. It moved the fuel tank from the interior to a pair of tanks mounted on the rear. For a fun IDF build, the Academy M113 kits have been around since the 1990s. Academy does an IDF "Zelda" version that's a 2-in-1 kit: either an IDF personnel carrier with the perforated metal armor, or a Command & Communication version. Academy even changed the interior to the correct IDF configuration, with the crew seats in the middle. The Zelda kit has a lot of aftermarket stuff dedicated to it, including photo-etched perforated armor to replace the somewhat clunky (and not really perforated) Academy parts. Academy also makes the IDF "Fitter" engineering vehicle, the M113A1 with the crane on top.

Hope I can help you do that! "The Blackout" is on Amazon Prime. "Attraction" can be watched in a bunch of places, like Tubi. Looks like YouTube charges $2.99. If it matters, "Blackout" had subtitles. But the 2 others were dubbed in English. I'm a retrograde old geezer, so I don't have any streaming services. I still...find...stuff on Usenet and download it. I heard about these flicks on the Facebook group "Incredibly Strange Films." It has over 300,000 members and they post about a LOT of weird movies!

Can be easily restored! Of if you want to start all over, now Dragon makes a model of the "Egyptian Sherman," with that weird oscillating turret from the AMX-13 tank. Those were built for Egypt but Israel captured many of them in the 1967 war. Weird Trivia: both Egypt and Israel built tanks with the same 75mm French gun that even fired the same ammunition. The Israelis modified the Sherman turret to fit the gun, creating the M-50 Sherman. The Egyptians mounted the whole turret on a Sherman hull, creating the M4/FL-10 tank that you built.

Three Russian sci-fi movies I've seen lately. Just turn off your brain and enjoy the effects... "The Blackout" (2017): The whole world suddenly goes dark and radio-silent, except for a small corner of Eastern Europe. Soldiers defending an outpost hear this announcement: "The enemy forces in the woods are not human. They are much larger than humans, and approaching your position at 20 kilometers per hour." "Attraction" (2017): a gigantic UFO appears over Moscow and Russian aircraft shoot it down. (Su-27 Flankers are shown flying off the aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov."). Since it's gigantic, it takes out a big chunk of the city when it crashes. And the alien troubles are only starting... "Attraction 2: Invasion" (2019): two years after "Attraction," China, Russia and the U.S. have teamed up to make sure those pesky aliens don't bother us anymore. You can guess how that works out. For one thing, the aliens hack the entire world internet. The two "Attraction" movies were directed by Fedor Bondarchuk. He specializes in big-budget projects and made two great war movies. "The 9th Company" (2005) is about Russian draftees in Afghanistan. "Stalingrad" (2013) had a Russian platoon defending an apartment house that the Germans desperately needed to take.

Recently I've seen not one, not two, but THREE movies set during WWII. All are worth watching: "A Call to Spy" - story of female agents working for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. "The Exception" - one of Christopher Plummer's last roles, as a cantankerous Kaiser Wilhelm II in Dutch exile. Set in the spring of 1940, when Germany overran the Low Countries. Also with Lily James and Jai Courtney. "The Last Vermeer" - the story of Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren, who burned Hermann Goering for several million dollars in fake masterpieces. With Guy Pearce and Claes Bang.

You beat me to it! I was going to post about the Miniart kits. Hobby Boss also makes kits of the same trucks, the GAZ-AA (single rear axle) and -AAA (double rear axle). I can't find any on-line reviews of that one, but it has photo-etched parts. If you see a GAZ-AA/AAA truck in an "Eastern Express" box, that's the Zvezda kit.

Speaking of deals...right now HobbyLinc has the Lindberg 1/16 scale "Serpent" Show Rod on clearance for $19.69. Also the MPC Tiger Shark for $11.99 and the Round 2 Ford T Racing Car body "Parts Pack" for $7.39. They had the Ford Louisville Short Hauler listed for $19.99 but it's showing as "Currently Unavailable." I have no connection to HobbyLink, other than spending money with them. Plastic Models Clearance Items (hobbylinc.com)

Impressed by the sales of Ford's post-1957 "personal luxury" Thunderbird, GM thought about making the new 1963 Corvette a 4-seater. They even built a prototype. And then a GM executive got into the back seat... https://jalopnik.com/the-four-seat-corvette-was-too-bad-to-be-true-1847379594?traffic_source=Connatix

Thanks, forgot about that one! He could also steal the toolbox on the Oldsmobile's running board and probably some other parts from that kit. Which is way overdue for a re-issue, Round 2. Hint, hint. For a tow truck, the Model T wheels being "slightly larger" might work out just fine, if he can't get the Olds wheels. With all the re-issues in recent years, those 1923-25 Model T wheels should be pretty easy to find.

This was weird. Last night I was on the Atlantis website. I wanted to get their ex-Aurora 1/72 scale kit of the AH-56 Cheyenne helicopter, which has been out for a while now. It hasn't been available since the Aurora release in the 1960s. Thought I would just order it directly from Atlantis. But the AH-56 was not in the Atlantis web pages for "Helicopter Kits" or "Aircraft Kits." I closed the Atlantis site, went to Google and did a search. That returned a link for the AH-56 kit...on the Atlantis website. When I clicked that link, it went to a "404 Not Found" page. So it looks like that kit is already discontinued. Or something. On the website, it's like it never existed. If anybody else wants one, there are plenty on eBay for reasonable prices. Some online vendors also still have it.

Looking great, lots of stealable material here! Thanks. Something minor to annoy you: both of the trucks pictured above have wooden "artillery" wheels, not the chrome wire wheels in the kit. That makes sense, considering the extra weight of the tow rig and its loads. Artillery wheels would probably stand the strain better than wire wheels. According to the article linked below about the '28 Lincoln, its options included: "...wooden artillery wheels, Buffalo wire wheels, steel disc wheels..." The photo below is a 1924 Lincoln Sport Phaeton with the artillery wheels. I'm trying to think of kits with those wheels. For artillery wheels, the AMT Thomas Flyer or '23-25 Model T kit. Or the old MPC Stutz Bearcat. I'm not sure the Model T wheels will look right on that big old Lincoln, but maybe. Several Italeri 1/24 classic car kits have steel disc wheels, IIRC. And the Hive Mind in here should have some other wheel ideas for you. 1928 Lincoln Model L | conceptcarz.com

Great work so far! Following because I found that kit cheap at a swap meet. Thought about making it a "working/beater" Rolls, as seen on some of the British cattle ranches in Africa. Or maybe a beat-up Shooting Brake. There's just something appealing to me about taking a rare classic car and beating it up. Speaking of Shooting Brakes...I just found this awesome thing that somebody needs to build. The photo caption said it's a Shooting Brake built in the former Rhodesia, but that's all I've been able to find out.

Other kit-makers could take a lesson from Trumpeter about doing all those variants. Trumpeter often releases kits of oddball, non-mainstream military vehicles. Which for some of us, is a relief from the umpteenth Tiger or Sherman tank. One of my favorite Trumpeter oddballs is the BTM-3 High Speed Trench Digger, and I plan to build it one of these centuries. It's a variant of another Trumpeter kit, the AT-T artillery tractor.

Reminder that when you go to Ollie's looking for model kits...the store currently has the book "Steve McQueen: The Life" for $3.99. Original price $30.00. Hardback, lots of info about McQueen, all his movies, his cars and the cool stuff that made him a movie icon: the sunglasses, clothes etc. Stuff goes in and out of Ollie's quickly, so you better hurry. If you want a HUGE book about the making of the movie "LeMans" and the stories behind it, get "A French Kiss With Death" by Michael Keyser and Jonathan Williams. McQueen was riding high after "Bullitt" in every sense of "high." "LeMans" brought him crashing back down. https://www.amazon.com/French-Kiss-Death-Michael-Keyser/dp/0837602343

Or maybe something in between! Link below to one of the many on-line arguments about the scale of that M48A2, on Armorama. For many years, builders cut the engine deck off the Monogram kit and mated it to the much better detailed Tamiya M48A3 kit. That was the only way to get a gasoline-powered M48A2, instead of the later Diesel-engined M48A3. Just a few years ago, Revell-Germany finally released a brand-new kit of the U.S. M48A2, followed by the German version with spotlight etc. Both of those are in "real" 1/35 scale. When I worked in Egypt, we often drove past an Egyptian artillery base. Its "gate guard" was the turret of a knocked-out Israeli M-48 sitting upside-down on a concrete plinth. I really wanted to get a photo of that. But like most armies, the Egyptians are not happy with people aiming cameras around their military bases. Armorama :: If Revell And Monogram Are The Same Company

If you're building a real replica of the "Bullitt" Charger, you'll need at least 11 of those wheel covers. 😁 I always considered "Bullitt" to be a great 8-minute car chase, surrounded by 1 hour and 46 minutes of a totally baffling movie. Even some of the cast and crew were confused by the plot and never understood it. I found this on a board discussing the movie: "Robert Vaughn read the script and said it didn't make any sense. He declined the part. They kept offering him more money. He said the more money they offered him, the more sense the plot made."